The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a multilayered chip component or a multilayered ceramic electronic component; and, more particularly, to a step of surface-treating a multilayered ceramic body in the method.
A multilayered chip component or a multilayered ceramic electronic component such as a multilayered ceramic capacitor has a stacked ceramic layers and internal electrodes in the form of a conductive film disposed therebetween. In the fabrication of such a multilayered ceramic electronic component, bare ceramic green sheets are fabricated first from a slurry obtained by mixing ceramic powders with a binder solution including therein an organic binder, a dispersing agent and a solvent. Internal electrode patterns are then printed on the ceramic green sheets by using, e.g., screen printing technique. The ceramic green sheets having the internal electrode patterns printed thereon are then stacked to form a ceramic body and the resultant laminated ceramic body is then diced into a plurality of chip-shaped multilayered ceramic bodies. These chip-shaped multilayered ceramic bodies are sintered after removing the organic materials such as an organic binder and a solvent.
In order to prevent the multilayered ceramic body from being improperly set or from being partially broken off when the multilayered ceramic body is loaded on the substrate, a surface treatment such as an abrasion is applied to the multilayered ceramic body to smooth edge portions of the multilayered ceramic body prior to the completion of the multilayered ceramic electronic component, wherein the multilayered ceramic body and abrasive powders are stirred together after being charged into an abrader.
However, if the abrasion is applied prior to the formation of external electrodes, undesirable wastes produced in the process from the multilayered ceramic body adhere to exposed portions of the internal electrodes during the abrasion, in such a way that during the sintering of the multilayered ceramic body, the undesirable wastes react with the internal electrodes at high temperature, thereby covering the exposed portions of the internal electrodes. This causes for electrical disconnections between the internal electrodes and the external electrodes, thereby resulting in the deterioration of the electrical property of the multilayered ceramic electronic component. Alternatively, if the abrasion is applied posterior to the formation of the external electrodes, the undesirable wastes produced in the process adhere to the external electrodes, in such a way that when a metal coating is formed on the external electrodes, the metal coating will have non-uniform thickness and weak adhesive force, thereby being easily delaminated and, hence again, resulting in the deterioration of the electrical property of the multilayered ceramic electronic component.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a method for fabricating a multilayered ceramic electronic component, capable of preventing a multilayered ceramic body from being contaminated by undesirable wastes produced in the process from the multilayered ceramic body during an abrading step.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for fabricating the multilayered ceramic electronic component comprising the steps of: preparing a multilayered ceramic body and abrasive powders into an abrader; abrading the multilayered ceramic body for smoothening edge portions of the multilayered ceramic body; and separating the multilayered ceramic body from the abrasive powders, wherein the abrasive powders are porous and include fat and oil, in such a way that the abrasive powders allow the undesirable wastes produced in the process from the multilayered ceramic body to adhere thereto during the abrading step.